Nearly 1.5 million emergency hospital admissions could have been avoided if the right care had been in place, MPs have warned today.
A new report from the Public Accounts Committee said these hospital admissions in 2016-17 could have been prevented if health and care services worked together more effectively.
‘The consequences of Government’s failure to properly fund and coordinate preventive health care and social care are laid bare in this report,’ said committee chair, Meg Hillier.
‘Around a quarter of emergency admissions to hospital could and should have been avoided.
‘That they were not further threatens the ability of cash-strapped hospitals to cope with demand and risks harm to patients through, for example, unnecessary overnight stays or the postponement of operations.’
Council leaders warned cuts to public health budgets was affecting their ability to deliver effective preventative services.
Cllr Izzi Seccombe, chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: ‘Essential prevention work and early intervention services are also being hampered by a £600m reduction in councils’ public health budgets by central government between 2015/16 and 2019/20.
‘The LGA is calling for these reductions to be reversed by the Government, which will help to further reduce NHS pressures and costs increasing.’